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1
[70]
FOR after the death of their father, the elder of them, Aristobulus,
changed the government into a kingdom, and was the first that put a diadem
upon his head, four hundred seventy and one years and three months after
our people came down into this country, when they were set free from the
Babylonian slavery. Now, of his brethren, he appeared to have an affection
for Antigonus, who was next to him, and made him his equal; but for the
rest, he bound them, and put them in prison. He also put his mother in
bonds, for her contesting the government with him; for John had left her
to be the governess of public affairs. He also proceeded to that degree
of barbarity as to cause her to be pined to death in prison.

[72]
But vengeance circumvented him in the affair of his brother Antigonus,
whom he loved, and whom he made his partner in the kingdom; for he slew
him by the means of the calumnies which ill men about the palace contrived
against him. At first, indeed, Aristobulus would not believe their reports,
partly out of the affection he had for his brother, and partly because
he thought that a great part of these tales were owing to the envy of their
relaters: however, as Antigonus came once in a splendid manner from the
army to that festival, wherein our ancient custom is to make tabernacles
for God, it happened, in those days, that Aristobulus was sick, and that,
at the conclusion of the feast, Antigonus came up to it, with his armed
men about him; and this when he was adorned in the finest manner possible;
and that, in a great measure, to pray to God on the behalf of his brother.
Now at this very time it was that these ill men came to the king, and told
him in what a pompous manner the armed men came, and with what insolence
Antigonus marched, and that such his insolence was too great for a private
person, and that accordingly he was come with a great band of men to kill
him; for that he could not endure this bare enjoyment of royal honor, when
it was in his power to take the kingdom himself.

[75]
Now Aristobulus, by degrees, and unwillingly, gave credit to these
accusations; and accordingly he took care not to discover his suspicion
openly, though he provided to be secure against any accidents; so he placed
the guards of his body in a certain dark subterranean passage; for he lay
sick in a place called formerly the Citadel, though afterwards its name
was changed to Antonia; and he gave orders that if Antigonus came unarmed,
they should let him alone; but if he came to him in his armor, they should
kill him. He also sent some to let him know beforehand that he should come
unarmed. But, upon this occasion, the queen very cunningly contrived the
matter with those that plotted his ruin, for she persuaded those that were
sent to conceal the king's message; but to tell Antigonus how his brother
had heard he had got a very the suit of armor made with fine martial ornaments,
in Galilee; and because his present sickness hindered him from coming and
seeing all that finery, he very much desired to see him now in his armor;
because, said he, in a little time thou art going away from me.

[77]
As soon as Antigonus heard this, the good temper of his brother not
allowing him to suspect any harm from him, he came along with his armor
on, to show it to his brother; but when he was going along that dark passage
which was called Strato's Tower, he was slain by the body guards, and became
an eminent instance how calumny destroys all good-will and natural affection,
and how none of our good affections are strong enough to resist envy perpetually.

[78]
And truly any one would be surprised at Judas upon this occasion.
He was of the sect of the Essens, and had never failed or deceived men
in his predictions before. Now this man saw Antigonus as he was passing
along by the temple, and cried out to his acquaintance, (they were not
a few who attended upon him as his scholars,) "O strange!" said
he, "it is good for me to die now, since truth is dead before me,
and somewhat that I have foretold hath proved false; for this Antigonus
is this day alive, who ought to hare died this day; and the place where
he ought to be slain, according to that fatal decree, was Strato's Tower,
which is at the distance of six hundred furlongs from this place; and yet
four hours of this day are over already; which point of time renders the
prediction impossible to be fill filled." And when the old man had
said this, he was dejected in his mind, and so continued. But in a little
time news came that Antigonus was slain in a subterraneous place, which
was itself also called Strato's Tower, by the same name with that Cesarea
which lay by the sea-side; and this ambiguity it was which caused the prophet's
disorder.

[81]
Hereupon Aristobulus repented of the great crime he had been guilty
of, and this gave occasion to the increase of his distemper. He also grew
worse and worse, and his soul was constantly disturbed at the thoughts
of what he had done, till his very bowels being torn to pieces by the intolerable
grief he was under, he threw up a great quantity of blood. And as one of
those servants that attended him carried out that blood, he, by some supernatural
providence, slipped and fell down in the very place where Antigonus had
been slain; and so he spilt some of the murderer's blood upon the spots
of the blood of him that had been murdered, which still appeared. Hereupon
a lamentable cry arose among the spectators, as if the servant had spilled
the blood on purpose in that place; and as the king heard that cry, he
inquired what was the cause of it; and while nobody durst tell him, he
pressed them so much the more to let him know what was the matter; so at
length, when he had threatened them, and forced them to speak out, they
told; whereupon he burst into tears, and groaned, and said, "So I
perceive I am not like to escape the all-seeing eye of God, as to the great
crimes I have committed; but the vengeance of the blood of my kinsman pursues
me hastily. O thou most impudent body! how long wilt thou retain a soul
that ought to die on account of that punishment it ought to suffer for
a mother and a brother slain! How long shall I myself spend my blood drop
by drop? let them take it all at once; and let their ghosts no longer be
disappointed by a few parcels of my bowels offered to them." As soon
as he had said these words, he presently died, when he had reigned no longer
than a year.

1 HOW ARISTOBULUS WAS THE FIRST THAT PUT A DIADEM ABOUT HIS
HEAD; AND AFTER HE HAD PUT HIS MOTHER AND BROTHER TO DEATH, DIED HIMSELF,
WHEN HE HAD REIGNED NO MORE THAN A YEAR.

Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.

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